Match Day Thread Wigan Athletic v Preston North End DW Stadium 8/2/2020

A trip to the Stadium of Pies

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for a local derby against Wagan Athletic whose form seems to have picked up in recent weeks, coincidence from last season they played Leeds away

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and won their next game was against us they won last season 2-0

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however by that time most of our lot were wearing flip flops and beach wear.
They have been in the nether regions of the division for most of the season but they might be putting their act together having won their last two beating the hapless Owls and their Yarkshire neighbours Leeds.
In the Wednesday game thought Lowe's header for the winner was very clever.
They splashed a bit of cash during the summer on Lowe and Moore and probably have been disappointed in their form also be interesting to see how Robinson performs after his transfer to A C Milan collapsed due to typical Italian inefficiency due to not getting the medical procedures out of the way in time.
Last time I saw us win down here was under Moyes when we won 1-0 took 7000 that night.
Match is on the box 12.30 kick off on Saturday expect it to pour down.
Will we be unchanged for the third game on the trot after our draw against Swansea

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should be but maybe a bit of squad rotation seeing we are off to the arid wasteland commonly known as Stoke on Wednesday followed by those cheerful Londoners Millwall next weekend.
Macs mystic form rating

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8

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11
Match Officials: Wigan Athletic Away

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Taking charge of this weekend’s live Sky encounter with local rivals Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium is match is Darren England
Darren last refereed PNE in the 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough back at the beginning of October; this is, however, his first Latics game of the 2019/20 season.

Last season, he officiated two North End games; our win over Queens Park Rangers at Deepdale in August 2018, when Alan Browne was the match winner on the opening day of the season and then the thrilling 3-3 draw with Aston Villa at Villa Park in what proved to be Steve Bruce’s last game in charge of our opponents.
In 2017/18, his first on the Select Group Two list, Darren took charge of three North End games, another draw at Middlesbrough in August, the 2-2 clash with Fulham at Craven Cottage and the 1-1 draw with Aston Villa in February, so the QPR game was his first and only visit to Deepdale thus far.
In total so far this season, he officiated in 22 games, issuing 56 cautions and no red cards, his last game being the 3-2 home comeback victory for Leeds United against Millwall at Elland Road.

This Saturday lunchtime he will be assisted by Nick Greenhalgh and Nik Barbard, whilst the fourth official will be Rob Jones.

 

Wigan Athletic line-up: Marshall, Byrne, Morsy (c), Evans (Jacobs, 55), Lowe, Pearce (Gelhardt, 55), Moore (Garner, 81), Williams, Kipre, Dunkley, Naismith. Subs not used: Jones, Massey, Roberts, Balogun.

PNE line-up: Rudd, Fisher, Hughes (Clarke, 72), Pearson, Bauer, Davies, Barkhuizen, Johnson, Sinclair (Harrop, 70), Browne (c), Maguire (Stockley, 81). Subs not used: Ripley, Gallagher, Rafferty, Nugent.

Attendance: 12,439 (3,294 PNE fans)

Referee: Mr D England

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A trip to the land of pies to play opposion who are scrapping for their lives at the wrong end of the table, on this showing they have every chance of escaping as they pushed us all the way especially when they reduced the arrears with 30 minutes to go. North end had been two up just after the break both goals exceptionally well worked.
Hughes returned to the Whites line up replacing the unlucky Rafferty, Maguire also came in for Harrop.

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Good start by both sides Lowe forcing Rudd into a good early save, but it was us that took the lead Pearson's defence splitting pass to Johnson, ball across face of the goal to Barkhuizen 1 up, could have been three up by 15 minutes Maguire forced a blinding save from Marshall and Sinclair hot wide from a really good position. Both defences looked non too secure Latics got the ball in the box and the awkward Moore was causing us a heap of problems in the air, if not Moore central defender Dunkley was also a danger.
We needed another goal to give us a bit of safety as there was always a chance the home side would take one of the knock downs Moore was creating.
We doubled the lead in thge first couple of minutes of the second period another defence splitting pass this time it was Barkhizen with the pass and Johnson did the rest, we should have pushed on but we stopped playing and the home side with a couple of good substitutions were soon back in the game when Dunkley bundled the ball home from close range following good work by Gelhardt who in his time of the pitch looked a decent player. Byrne on the right was getting into good positions(been a thorn in our side since his Swindon days)
Credit to the centre backs they defended well at everything that was thrown at them and the only dangerous moment came for a Gelhardt shot from the edge of the box which was well saved by Rudd.
Surprisingly Latics took Moore off and replaced him with one Joe Garner but the ex Nobber did not really get in the game in the time he was on the field.
A big win puts us sixth and after today's results there is a 4 point gap between us and 8th place.
Last time I saw us win there we got promotion now that would be a good coincidence

 

Wigan Athletic boss Paul Cook told BBC Radio Manchester:

"I am very disappointed with our performance . It was as flat and poor as it has been for quite some time.

"We didn't have enough players winning individual battles all over the pitch. The game went ahead of us after their second goal.

"You've got to give credit to Preston, I thought they were better than us for long periods of the game and, in my opinion, they deserved the win."

Preston North End boss Alex Neil told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"I thought we probably played in spells. We had some good spells and so did Wigan. What I thought in the first half was in our good spells we were more dangerous than them.

"At half-time we spoke about getting the next goal and make sure we didn't rest on our laurels.

"The month of February is massive and we've started it well and we'll go on with a lot of confidence."

 

Honesty by both managers is becoming more frequent. Gone are the days of Pulis and Warnock. pulis did have some words of praise for AN and one or two NE players. Pearson's pass was sublime, followed up by DJ's cross goal pass to Barkhuisen. And the second goal was very good. Swift accurate passing I love to watch. Defenders are on their back heels and are caught out static.